Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part II: Interview with William N. Brisley

Titles: Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part II: Interview with William N. Brisley (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: William N. Brisley was born in Duluth, Minnesota. He joined the National Guard before graduating from Excelsior High School. After high school he attended Dunwoody Institute before being mobilized to Northern Ireland. He went back home for officers training and went on artillery spotting missions in the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines. After the war, he finished college at the University of Minnesota and raised a family with his wife, Charlotte Brisley. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Being involved with the Boy Scouts; playing the trumpet; National Guard training in Louisiana; mobilization prior to Pearl Harbor; being one of the first men from the United States in the European Theater; returning home for officers training; being selected for flight training; being ordered to New Guinea; life in New Guinea: training missions, camp facilities; relocation to the Dutch East Indies; running artillery spotting missions in the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines; rescuing a Japanese prisoner from Filipino guerillas; experiencing the Japanese surrender firsthand; using the GI Bill to pay for college; life after the war: starting a family, graduating from college; finding a job; building a home.

Dates

• 06/06/2005 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Brisley, William N.
• interviewer: Bekke, Douglas

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 115
• Accession Number: AV2008.26.7

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Minnesota's Greatest Generation Oral History Project: Part II' <OH 115>

Quantity: 2 hours sound cassettes 59 pages transcript

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 105 minutes length

Subjects

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